Rand Paul plans to dump his campaign staff

By Doug Thompson
May 26, 2010

Rand Paul: Tough times in the big leagues (AP)

It’s the oldest ploy in politics. When a candidate screws up, blame the staff and start firing people.

Rand Paul, the Tea Party darling that upset the political establishment to win the Kentucky GOP Senatorial nomination and then upset most everyone else with off-the-wall comments about racial segregation, announced Tuesday he’s dumping his staff of political novices and volunteers and turning to more established political pros.

Palul said he’s planning a campaign staff shakeup but would not elaborate on the details.

Campaign manager David Adams, a Republican blogger before entering the heady world of statewide politics, will most likely be demoted and a longtime aide to Paul’s father, Jesse Benton, appears to be taking a more active role in the campaign.

Paul stuck his foot in his mouth right after his primary win by telling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that he believes restaurants should have the right to discriminate if they wanted — a reflection of some of the more extreme views of the libertarian philosophy that his Father, Texas Congressman and failed Presidential contender Ron Paul, follows.

Paul, a doctor, appeared in hospital scrubs while addressing a lunch meeting of the Bowling Green Lions Club Tuesday and echoed the words of Charles Dickens in saying the past week “was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

17 Responses to Rand Paul plans to dump his campaign staff

Typical behavior by politicians who stuck their ass in their mouth. Changing staff is the same as saying that somebody else is responsible for their public comments.

Jim C

May 26, 2010 at 8:19 pm

from what I’ve seen and heard from Mr loopy a strait jacket would have been more appropriate than scrubs .

Guardhouse lawyer

May 26, 2010 at 8:56 pm

“I am a doctor but I play a politician on TV.” The scrub suit appearance is nothing short of pathetic.

Guardhouse lawyer

May 26, 2010 at 8:59 pm

What I was really reaching for in the above post:

“I’m not a politician but I play one on TV.”

And the scrubs are still pathetic.

Almandine

May 26, 2010 at 9:12 pm

This had to be one of the most BS threads to ever get started. That was the whole point, eh?

ra

May 26, 2010 at 11:59 pm

You know how it goes in sports. When a team is losing, who gets the blame first, the players, paid millions of dollars, or the coach/manager? The answer is the coach/manager who often gets fired. In this case, Paul is the millionaire player, and his campaign staff plays the part of the coaches. The staff is going to take the hit, but as far as I’m concerned, at the end of the day, Paul was the boss, and it was up to him to know better than to run off at the mouth. Unfortunately, he was so enthralled by the media attention that his inexperience got put on display for the world to see.

griff

May 27, 2010 at 6:58 am

Or perhaps this has nothing to do with the events of last week, but rather his feeling the need to bolster his staff as he transitions from a state-wide primary campaign to a campaign against a well-funded Democrat establishment with national attention.

A good analogy, but I don’t see where he blamed his staff in any way for his own words. But of course, the media needs a good story.

AustinRanter (AKA Gregg)

May 27, 2010 at 11:19 am

Griff…

Paul doesn’t have to verbally blame his staff for him publicly voicing his convictions, which stirred a bushel basket of controversies.

Remember when Palin came on the scene? The major excuse for her ignorance was blamed on her handlers. And damn, if there weren’t a whole bunch of people who believed it. She was a victim of somebody else’s screw ups. Of course MSM is always thrown in as a guilty party with bad staffers…no matter how ignorant or stupid a politician is.

Politicians don’t have to say what the motive is for initiating a major staff shake-up. Unspoken implications are commonplace with politicians. Staff changes just happen to be one of those unspoken implications that the lack of preparation by staff that led a politician to make public mistakes. Then of course comes the naturally occurring aftermath – the buzzard MSM was in the background sitting on the fence post waiting to make a huge meal out of the fatal speeches made by dumbass politicians.

So, here we are, Paul said what he believed. It backfired on him. He quickly claimed to be a victim of the brutality of the press, and in particular, Rachel Maddow. He appeared on her show and she forced him to say all his beliefs. Consequently, it’s now presumed that his staff didn’t prepare him or protect him from being a victim. Now those stupid, incompetent staffers have to go.

Way too often it’s not what politicians say, it’s what they don’t say.

In Paul’s case, all of the recent times he made public appearances – he “didn’t say” that he stood accountable for his beliefs despite the fact that he knew that his views and beliefs don’t coincide with those of mainstream America. He also failed to say being seated in the U.S. Senate would not compromise his beliefs nor would he placate to any institution or persons…including those he would serve under in his elected office. Then…let the chips fall where they may.

griff

May 27, 2010 at 1:57 pm

Frankly I could care less what the media does or who runs his campaign. All I care about is policy positions and philosophy.

“In every society there are persons who have the intelligence to figure out the requirements of liberty and the character to walk in its ways. This is a scattered fellowship of individuals- mostly unknown to you or me- bound together by a love of ideas and a hunger to know the plain truth of things.” – Leonard Read

Yeah, I knew Lanny was more thoughtful than most, but it still surprised me a bit.

griff

May 27, 2010 at 1:42 pm

Just received, filled out, and returned another Republican census. Some day they’re going to stop sending me these damned things, but how I do love to fill them out and fail to enclose a check to “defray the costs of processing” my answers. I especially like how they frame the questions, such as “Do you support Obama’s…” or “Do you trust Obama…,” as if by answering no it means that I trust or support the Republican position.

Hey, here’s an idea, Mr. Steele – essay questions. I’d like to give you an earful.

Maybe I’ll register as a Democrat to see what kind of BS surveys they send out.

I like to annotate those surveys with comments as to how their questions are biased and send them back with written answers. Then I say that performance before asking for rewards, please. A small step, I know.